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Washington - US stocks were little changed on Monday as investors braced for a busy week of quarterly results from major US banks and several Dow 30 companies.
Health stocks were down after Eli Lilly said it was scrapping an experimental heart drug and taking a related charge in the fourth quarter.
Lilly fell as much as 8.9% to $78.47, putting the stock on track for its biggest single-day day decline in seven years. Rival Merck was down 2% at $49.91.
On the other hand, Amgen was up 2% and Regeneron more than 3%. Both companies recently received FDA approval for cholesterol-reducing drugs.
EMC's shares were up 2.6% at $28.60 after Dell said it would buy the data storage company in a $67bn deal.
VMware, which is majority owned by EMC, fell 6.6% to $73.46.
At 15:36, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 9.12 points at 17 075.37. The S&P 500 was down 2.23 points at 2 012.66 and the Nasdaq composite index was down 0.74 points at 4 829.73.
Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were down, with the energy sector's 1.2% fall leading the decliners.
JPMorgan kicks off bank earnings on Tuesday, with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup reporting through the week.
Financial companies are expected to show earnings growth of 8.4%, down from the 14.8% expected at the start of the third quarter.
The financial index has been under pressure due to worries about banks' trading revenue and the health of the global economy.
The Federal Reserve added to the uncertainty by deciding to keep interest rates unchanged at its September meeting. Banks would benefit from a hike in rates, which have not been raised since 2006.
"We had concerns about emerging markets and uncertainty in the Fed. So the dip we had in late August, we've retraced the losses to a good amount," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in New Jersey.
"Earnings are now going to give investors a little more evidence of what's really going on."
Bakhos expects a muted trading session on Monday as banks remain closed for the Columbus Day holiday.
Fed Vice chairperson Stanley Fischer said on Sunday the central bank was still likely to raise interest rates this year, unless global economic conditions push the US economy off course.
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Fed Board Governor Lael Brainard are scheduled to speak on Monday. Both are voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee, which regulates open market operations.
Several Dow 30 components are also reporting results this week, including Johnson & Johnson, Intel and General Electric.
S&P 500 companies are expected to report a 4.5% fall in third-quarter profits, the biggest decline in six years, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Twitter was down 2.2% at $30.14 after a report on Friday that the company was planning to announce layoffs this week.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1 348 to 1 245. On the Nasdaq, 1 168 issues rose and 1 157 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed seven new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 22 new highs and six new lows.
